How did the East German state keep its people under surveillance? We get a peek behind the scenes at the former secret service headquarter in Berlin.
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00This complex of buildings, located in Berlin, used to house the former East German secret police.
00:07Which methods did the East German spy service, the Stasi, use to observe and control the citizens of the GDR?
00:15I'm at the former Stasi headquarters here in Berlin to find out.
00:21The Stasi maintained control through a vast network of informants and intimidation.
00:26The former dictatorship effectively suppressed dissent.
00:31My guide today is Sven Behrendt, the managing director of the museum.
00:35He works to preserve the history of this building.
00:40What was the primary function of the Stasi?
00:44In the GDR, one party was in power, the Communist Party.
00:48This party wanted to decide everything.
00:50It was against discussing its decisions.
00:53So the state security ensured there were no surprises and that the party could enforce its decisions.
00:59One of the things used to hinder dissent was this unspectacular looking truck.
01:07Sven, this looks like an ordinary vehicle to me, like an old truck or a delivery truck.
01:12But this van has quite a bit of significance, doesn't it?
01:18Of course it's just a truck, but it's also a symbol.
01:22The state security used such trucks to transport several thousand political prisoners every year.
01:30This truck might look nondescript, but the feeling inside this vehicle was claustrophobic and anything but comfortable.
01:39Very interesting.
01:41By the time the Berlin Wall fell in 1989, the Stasi had around 91,000 full-time employees
01:47and approximately 189,000 unofficial collaborators, perhaps even more.
01:53They spied on their colleagues, friends and sometimes even their spouses.
02:00So Sven, you were just telling me there were actually secrets within secrets in this building.
02:07That's absolutely correct.
02:11It was only recently discovered that a camera was hidden in the wall many decades ago, in 1966.
02:18From this hole, employees of the state security were photographed while washing their hands.
02:26We still don't know why, but here you can see a very typical method for the Stasi for gathering information.
02:33Namely, hiding video cameras or photo cameras to obtain information.
02:41One of the things I find more interesting is this Geruchskonserve, or rather this scent jar,
02:48which contains a rag with someone's scent on it.
02:52And this was one of the more unusual methods, I find,
02:58to find someone that might have been a so-called enemy of the state.
03:05The idea behind this is that every person has a unique body odor.
03:10This scent can be very well differentiated by dogs, such as German shepherds.
03:17This is known as scent differentiation.
03:21Okay, but you'd have to get it from me first.
03:24Imagine you come from West Berlin as an American to East Berlin in the GDR.
03:30You might have a friend there and visit him, and the state security suspects that you are preparing an escape.
03:36Then in West Berlin, where you feel safe,
03:39agents would have entered your apartment when you were not at home and placed a cloth in your bed.
03:48If I were living in West Berlin at the time, I would have been living in a free democracy.
03:52How was that even allowed?
03:53How would they have been able to get there and get into my apartment?
03:57Of course it wasn't allowed.
03:59These were agents who operated outside the GDR illegally, in what was called the operational area.
04:04They had to make sure they were not caught.
04:08The man largely responsible for this massive state-sponsored spy operation in East Germany was Erich Mielke.
04:16This is where the minister for state security worked, Army General Erich Mielke.
04:22He was also a member of the party leadership.
04:25State security was strongly based on Mielke's concept of total control.
04:30What happened to him when the wall fell?
04:34He was arrested and charged with a murder he had committed 60 years earlier.
04:39He was investigated for 30 crimes, including corruption and other such offenses.
04:43He was then sentenced to six years in prison, but was released after a few years and died in a nursing home as a free man.
04:52On January 15, 1990, after the fall of the Berlin Wall,
04:56demonstrators took over the former headquarters to end its operations and save files from being destroyed.
05:01To date, the site serves as an educational center.
05:05Wow, what a day.
05:08Wow, what a day.
05:10I can honestly say that I am astounded by how extensive the spy network was.
05:16It leaves you feeling a little bit paranoid, to say the least.
05:20Now, I also can honestly say I really don't know what I would have done if I had lived under such a system.